Miao Yi Vegetarian Restaurant Review

Miao Yi Vegetarian Restaurant is located on the 3rd floor of Coronation Plaza along Bukit Timah Road. The plaza is an old shopping mall built during the 1980s with some retail and school accessories outlets as it is close to several education institutions in the area.

The restaurant has a sitting capacity of about 20 tables. The restaurant is often fully booked during the weekend and public holidays (such as Chinese New Year) and has to put up more tables and chairs outside the restuarant. You are advised to book your tables beforehand during these peak periods.

The restaurant has some calligraphy and traditional Chinese paintings hanging on its walls and nothing extravagant as what you can find in other restaurants. At least you will find the table arrangements orderly and clean. Also, the restaurant is adequately lit thus you can comfortably sit down for a chit chat after a meal. The customer service at Miao Yi is prompt even during peak dining hours.

Prickled Cabbage

A meal at Miao Yi Vegetarian Restaurant begins with the prickled cabbage appetizer. This appetizer from Miao Yi is only slightly sour and a good way to prepare you for a good meal ahead. The appetizer is so good that some of my non-vegetarian friends have requested to purchase a pack for home consumption!

Quality: 4/5
Price: $3

Roasted Mock Pig (鸿运乳猪)

The Roasted Mock Pig (鸿运乳猪) is the signature dish of Miao Yi. The mock pig comes in crusty deep fried slices of mushroom and beancurd skin with fresh lettuce and cucumbers. It is best to drip the sliced mock meat in the sweet soy sauce and wrap it with the lettuce and cucumbers before eating. I have ordered this dish many times and still amazed at how fresh the green vegetables are.

Quality: 5/5
Price: $35

Malay Stir Fried Kang Kong (马来风光)

Malay Stir Fried Kang Kong (马来风光）is a commonly available Zi Char dish in Singapore. However, we assure you that Miao Yi cooks up the best Malay Stir Fried Kang Kong in Singapore. The Kang Kong is fresh and tastes really good after Miao Yi stir fry them with its chilli sauce and mock ikan bilis very well. Even my non-vegetarian friends are impressed with this dish.

Quality: 5/5
Price: $9

Sweet and Sour Pork

The Sweet and Sour Pork from Miao Yi Vegetarian Restaurant is perfectly deep fried on the outside while retaining its chewiness inside. We also love the sweet and sour sauce. The dish could have more mock meat and less vegetables but we are just being picky.

Quality: 5/5
Price: $9

Creamy Shark Fins Soup

You can find finely sliced enokitake (金针菇)，四川菜，mushroom and beancurd skin in the creamy shark fin soup. The soup has a great thick starchy taste. In recent years, cruelty to sharks have been intensively communicated to the world with many hotels and restaurants abandoning the dish altogether. Non-vegetarian restaurants which have stopped selling shark fin can certainly learn from Miao Yi on how to prepare a vegetarian shark fin soup. Lastly, we recommend that you drink the soup while it is hot else it will turn watery after it has cooled.

Quality: 5/5
Price: $12

Yam Ring

I want to take a photo of the Yam Ring before it is being cut but the service attendant is too fast! Well it is for the better as you can get to see what is inside the Yam Ring. The ring is crispy on the outside while retaining a soft yam filling. My only complaint is that Miao Yi could put in more mock meat and gravy for this dish. Else the crispy glass noodles beneath the ring will not be eaten.

Quality: 4/5
Price: $12

Kai Lan

The Kai Lan tastes raw and not adequately cooked. It appears that the chef probably just steams the vegetables and poured the oyster sauce over the vegetables.

Quality: 3/5
Price: $9

Desserts

The dessert on the other hand is pretty average. The almond jelly is firm and tasty while the mango pudding is not too sweet.

Quality: 3.5/5
Price: $3 Each

Conclusion:

If you are longing for top notch vegetarian food at a reasonable price, you should make Miao Yi Vegetarian Restaurant your first choice. Unlike some of its competitors (eg Lingzhi) which have gone down the fusion route for their vegetarian dishes, Miao Yi still sticks to delivering traditional Chinese dishes which will appeal to elderly people and non-vegetarians alike.

You can find out about the location and operating hours of Miao Yi Vegetarian Restaurant here.

If you are overwhelmed by the variety of dishes offered by Miao Yi, we recommend that you start with the dishes in this article. You will not go wrong from there.

Miao Yi Vegetarian Restaurant is almost located at the centre of Singapore. Yet transportation to Miao Yi may not be as convenient as you think. The nearest MRT is Botanic Gardens along the Circle Line, after which you have to take a bus to Coronation Plaza.